Reliance Digital has tied up with six zonal distributors and the new LYF handsets are expected to reach to the shelves of 120,000 retail outlets in the country within next 2 to 3 days.Muntazir Abbas | ETTelecom | January 27, 2016, 18:08 IST

NEW DELHI: Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Retail which is driving the distribution of LYF-branded 4G VoLTE smartphones for the Jio’s high-speed data services debut is expecting to ship devices to 120,000 retailers across the country by this weekend, a market source told ET.

Company’s electronics retail arm Reliance Digital is getting an overwhelming response as the curiosity over VoLTE-equipped smartphones is converting into major sales opportunity. The newly launched devices are going off the shelves at some locations in the country.

Reliance Digital has tied up with six zonal distributors and the new LYF handsets are expected to reach to the shelves of 120,000 retail outlets in the country within next 2 to 3 days, the person aware of the logistics movement said.

Reliance Retail, a retail business part of conglomerate Reliance Industries, has made three Android OS 5.1 version variants available to customers across Reliance Digital stores that include Earth 1, Water 1 and Water 2 devices.

ET has earlier reported that among the first ones to be made available would include Earth 1, Water 1, Water 2 and Water 3 device models.

However, the exact number of the devices sold could not be ascertained but the people familiar with the matter said that the strong geographical reach through distribution channel would eventually transform into a robust sales figure.

The company’s 5,000 digital sales specialists are assisting in the LYF handsets sales and nearly 1,000 service centers are gearing up to meet consumers’ after-service needs.

LYF Water 1 and 2 are priced at Rs 14,999 and Rs 14,690 respectively while the Earth 1 comes at Rs 23,990. The newly-available all the three smartphones feature 1.5 GHz octa-core Qualcomm MSM8939 processors.

Several people ET spoke with about Ericsson’s India operations, including its current and former employees, said the Stockholm-based firm has reduced headcount in the last one year or so across functions, in line with its global restructuring.